#233 Pan au Chocolat

Happy Bastille Day! I had to paint something french today and here it is, my favoured french pastry the Pan aux Chocolat. I have some very foggy memories from college trips to and through France. Sitting in French motorway sevice stations at breakfast with a cup of sweet, black coffee and one of these. While desperately trying to reconcile the fact that I wont be getting any more sleep this morning. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#232 Two Chocolates

More Birthday pressies! Debbie picked out some of my favourite choccy flavours, these are two of them; a chocolate truffle and a white chocolate strawberry creme. The strawberry creme is THE most gorgeous chocolate of its kind I have ever tasted... the soft creamy strawberry magic stuff and the creamy white choc covering mmmmmmm. I haven't tried the other one yet! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#231 Wind Up Monkey

Happy Birthday to me! This joyful little fellow was one of my presents this morning, you wind him up and he moves from left to right on his knuckles...hilarious! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#230 Sweetpea

Another offering from the garden, a sweatpea this time, pretty but not edible. I am already looking forward to tomorrows painting, I dont know what its going to be yet but, the 12th of July is usually my birthday and I am hoping that tomorrow is no different from the last 35 years. Birthday cake anyone? Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#229 Gooseberry

A nice partner to last nights painting, green and red and sweet and sour! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#228 Strawberry

 

Spent most of today driving from Norfolk to Cheltenham, which didn't offer up many objects to paint today so, I raided the garden to see what had grown since Sunday when I last went out there and lo and behold a new flush of strawberries had appeared. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#227 Golf Tee

 

One the reasons for coming across the country to the homelands of Norfolk was to cash in the golf lessons I bought for my Dads Birthday last year. We had our swings looked at yesterday at Sprowston Manor golf course, near Norwich. The profesional even compared my swing to that of Tiger Woods. Well he put a photo of both of us next to each other!

#226 Ice Cream Sweet

 

This is one of my nephews Josh and Jack's sweeties (or 'weets') That I HAD to take with me today! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm .

#225 Poppy

Happy birthday Mum! Being a seasonal flower and one of my mums favourites I thought I would paint a poppy. I also though I would paint one that I had just tried to open up a bit too early, just like I did when I was a young fella, I don't think Mum liked that very much! I only wanted to see the pretty flowers! Oil on gesso 16ccm x 12cm.

#224 Freezer Bag Clip

I'm not sure what my life would be like without these, doesn't bear thinking about really. There would be peas all over the place for a start! I like the red ones best so, I painted one. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#223 Punschroll Cake

This is one of those purchases made on looks alone, it tastes horrible! It is a swedish cake from Ikea in, approprately, the colours of the swedish flag. Yes, we have been to Ikea I now await with anticipation/fear for the Kitchen to be delivered in neat, flat boxes by men in a big yellow and blue van. I do hope you are all looking forward to a series of kitchen paintings sometime at the end of August! Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#222 Number 2 Printing Block

Happy Birthday Jack! This might not be my first choice for a painting to mark my nephew's birthday. I was going to paint a red balloon like the blue one I painted for his brother Josh's Birthday. However, last night I realised that, not only is it Jacks 2nd Birthday, it is also day #222 of this project. With such an amazing coincidence I had to paint a number 2 of some sort. So I went 'on the rob' to the printmaking department at work and borrowed this. I hope you can see it, its quite dark in the photo. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#221 Two Matches

From a moth to the flame. Well, pre and post flame anyway! The match at the front represents me at the beginning of this week and the one behind represents me at the end of this week!

Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.

#220 Moth

I have been waiting for another interesting insect to die (peacefully) in my vicinity since I painted the Bee. This unassuming yet perfect little specimen spent its last moments on the bedroom windowsill possibly perishing in the heat from the last few days. Yesterday I wanted to paint a ladybird given their recent news coverage, the one I found was docile, but alive. In my excitement I thought I might be able to paint him alive, if he held still long enough..... ah, he flew away. Oil on gesso 16cm x 12cm.